What Wall Street could learn from Douglas Adams

The main advice given by The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (still the funniest science-fiction/humor novel ever written) is something I wish more people would take to heart — Don't Panic.  Relax.  Chill out.  Take it down a notch.  Whatever phrase works for you, people need to calm down.  This recent mudslide on Wall Street is a perfect example.

Now, I realize that a lot of what happens on Wall Street is run by computer programs (which is scary enough as it is), but there is still a human factor that appears to run entirely on emotion without any consideration for facts whatsoever.  If people would just take a deep breath and remember not to panic, things could've been a lot better.  After all, what caused the big falling on the Dow?  Because the USA was downgraded from AAA status to AA+.  Oooooooh nooooooo!  Quick, the world is coming to an end.

Come on!  Yes, it's a serious blow to our ego.  Yes, it can have serious consequences to our economy and the value of the dollar.  I'm not saying it was a good thing, and I'm not saying that people shouldn't consider reallocating some of their assets.  But the fact is that we were taken down one tiny step.  The fact is that investing in an AAA bond or an AA+ bond means little to most people — both are highly valued.  The fact is that while our government has forgotten how to operate with even a modicum of sense, it's still running.  And the fact is that if the US government were to really default, were to really completely fall apart overnight, well, heck, you'll have a million other things to truly be concerned with rather than pieces of numbered paper that people once traded for goods and services.

Maybe it's a good thing that my novel, The Way of the Black Beast, is coming out in September.  It's a post-apocalyptic fantasy in which an abuse of magic caused the apocalypse.  I'll post later with details all about it, but I mention it here because that's where you should go to live out your end-of-the-world fears — a book, not Wall Street.  There are plenty of good novels in the apocalypse category, and here's a secret:  In each one, the world continues on.

 See, that's the thing.  If the absolute worst could happen, life would still go on.  It wouldn't be the same as it was yesterday, but it would continue.  And really — we all know deep down inside that our lives will never be like they were growing up.  The world is no longer like that.  You can't go back.  But it won't end.  People thought it was all over in 1929, but we survived.  Life was different.  The roaring 20s never came back, but new good times came along and the world changed.  That's the way of things.  We may all have to start learning Chinese, but life will go on.

So, after two absurd days on Wall Street, I say take a step back, everyone.  The sky is not falling — it was just a really nasty storm that hit us.  We can survive this as long as we remember what that great sage Douglas Adams once wrote: Don't Panic.